Slitter and cutter apparatus



Feb. 10, 1970 E. s. LINDAU 3,494,232

SLITTER AND CUTTER APPARATUS Filed Aug; 10, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 i INVENTOQ [km 6. A/NMU Feb. 10, 1970 E. s. LINDAU 3,494,232

SLITTER AND CUTTER APPARATUS Filed Aug. 10, 1967 2 ShQetS-rSheet 2 N [NV 0 m N 59/6 6. 444 040 ATbQNEYS United States Patent 6) 3,494,232 SLITTER AND CUTTER APPARATUS Eric S. Lindau, P.O. Box 483, Lake Forest, Ill. 60045 Filed Aug. 10, 1967, Ser. No. 659,691 Int. Cl. B26d 1/38 US. Cl. 83100 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE An apparatus in which large sheets or webs of tough material such as transparencies, wide photographic films, or X-ray films are cut into small discrete particles. The film is first slit into ribbons by toothed slitters and then a spiral cutting edge on a rotating blade moves progressively across the ribbons and severs them into individual chips.

This invention relates to an apparatus for cutting large sheets or webs of relatively tough material, such as trans parencies, wide photographic films or X-ray films, into small discrete particles.

Such large size films are diflicult to dispose of and are typically burned, which gives off offensive odors and toxic fumes, or are thrown away or mutilated by hand in a slow and laborious process. Such wide films are not easily cut across their entire length because of the toughness of the base material, which is usually cellulose acetate or some other tough plastic, and the tendency of the film to lift from the supporting base. There is a need for a machine capable of severing such wide films to destroy the information on the films and to produce small chips of film suitable for use in silver recovery processes. A desirable chip size is less than approximately one-half inch by one inch. Thus, films or X-rays wider than the usual 35 mm. movie film are severed both longitudinally and transversely into such small chips. To cut in a high and economical manner, the machine must be simple, long lasting and of compact size to be practical.

Accordingly, a general object of the invention is to pro vide an economical and high speed cutter for severing wide sheets or webs of phootgraphic film into small discrete particles.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide a cutting apparatus capable of slitting photographic or X-ray films longitudinally into ribbons and severing small chips from the ribbon.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view taken along the line 22 of FIGURE 2 and illustrating a slitter and cutter apparatus embodying the novel features of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the apparatus of FIG URE 1.

As shown in the drawings for purposes of illustration, the invention i emboddied, from a very general standpoint, in a cutter apparatus which receives wide-usually 5 inches or wider-sheets or webs 11 of material such as photographic or X-ray film. The film is fed forwardly by feed means, such as by the feed rollers 13, to a series of rotatable toothed slitters 15 which cut slits or grooves 17 in the film, to form individual strips or ribbons 19 at the leading edge of the film. The ribbons move forwardly to a rotatable cutter 21 which has spiral blades 23 for progressively severing the ribbons into a plurality of small chips 25. The sheet is difiicut to feed forwardly and to hold flat while being cut, and to this end, it is preferred that individual feed rolls 29 be disposed between the cut ter disk and extend to engage and feed the sheet forwardly, and also, it is preferred that a suction force be applied to hold the sheet tight against a support 31 during both slitting and cutting. The suction also functions to remove dust, lint or other matter generated during the cutting operation.

Proceeding now with a detailed description of the slitter and cutter apparaus illustrated in the drawings, the apparatus is provided with spaced vertical side walls defined by a pair of vertical side plates 33 which are fixed at their lower ends to a main, horizontal base plate 35. The apparatus may be small and quite compact in that it may be about the size of a conventional typewriter. The vertical side plate are relatively thick and serve to sup port bearings for journaling the rotating elements of the apparatus such as the feed rollers 13.

To feed the film, whether it is an aerial film wound on a reel supported on a spindle (not shown) or one of a series from a stack of X-ray films, the leading edge of the film i inserted into the nip of upper and lower feed rollers 37 and 39 which rotate to feed the film forwardly, i.e., right to left in FIGURE 1. The upper feed roller 37 has an outer resilient sleeve 41 of rubber secured to an internal metal shaft 43 which is journaled in suitable bearings mounted on the side plates 33. In this instance, the lower feed roller 39 is of a smaller diam eter and is made of metal. The lower feed roller is journaled in bearings (not shown) for rotating about a gen erally horizontal axis parallel to the axis of the rotation of the upper feed roller 37. It is preferred that the feed rollers touch with light pressure at the nip to grip the film which is usually about ,4 of an inch thick. Preferably, the feed rollers are adjustably mounted so as to enable use with variou thicknesses of film. a From the feed rollers 37 and 39, the sheets move across the upper surface of the film support means 31 which is formed herein by a series of inch wide bars 45 extending longitudinally in the direction of film travel. The bars 45 span a pair of horizontal, transversely extending bars 47 and 49. Each of the bars 45 is separated from its adjacent bar by a /2; inch slot 51 (FIGURE 2) to receive the lower peripheral edges of the slitters 15 and to allow suction pressure to hold the film 11 on the fiat upper surface of the bar 31.

A film guide and hold-down means is provided between the feed rollers 13 and the slitter cutters 15 to hold the film flat and prevent its lifting or buckling. The guide and hold-down means are in the form of a bar 53 of triangular cross section fastened between the opposing side plates 33 with its lower surface 55 spaced over the upper surface of the lower support bars 31. The slanted walls of the guide bar 53 extend close to the peripheral surface of the slitters and the feed rollers and thereby assure a support across substantially the entire space therebetween. To assist in holding the film and preventing its buckling during the slitting operation, particularly at the sides of slits being formed in the film, sleeves 61 of resilient rubber material are disposed at the rotatable slitter shaft 62 'which is journaled for rotation in suitable bearings mounted on the side walls 33. The lower surfaces of the sleeves 61 extend into engagement with the upper surface of the film and hold the film down against the support bars 31. Thus, the sleeves are effective between the slitters and are effective at positions closely adjacent the point of actual slitting to hold down the strips and give them a forward push.

The films are usually made of cellulose acetate or from other tough plastic which is ditficult to cut. Good results are obtained from the slitters, however, by the use of saw teeth on the outer peripheral edge of the slitter. The slitters 15 are relatively thin, being less than 4; inch in width in the preferred embodiment of the invention. Each slitter disk is abutted by one of the resilient rub ber sleeves 61 along its radial face to hold the slitter against bending or deflection. The combination of the resilient sleeves and disks have been found to be most effective in cutting such tough material which may tend to buckle or lift.

For the purpose of holding the film 11 during the slitting and cutting operations, it is preferred to provide a suction pressure to the underside of the film by means of a duct 65 which is connected to a suitable source of suction such as a vacuum pump (not shown). This suction also removes the dust and particles resulting from the sawing and slitting action of the slitters 15. More specifically, the suction is effective to remove the dust from the grooves 51 to prevent their clogging and also to assist in cleaning the teeth of the slitters. In this instance, a sealed header duct 67 is fastened to the lower side of the transverse support bars 47 and 49 by fasteners 69 and extends transversely across the underside of all of the spaced bars 45. The header duct 67, in this instance, has tapered side walls leading to the duct 65 which is attached to be connected to an external vacuum pump (not shown). However, it is within the purview of the present invention to provide a vacuum pump on the base plate 35 and to drive the same by a motor such as the driving motor 71 for the slitters and feed roll 37. In any event, the suction holds the strips formed at the leading edge of the film down on the bars 31 as they move under a horizontally disposed support plate 73 which is spaced about an upper surface on a fixed cutter block 75 having a forward cutting edge 77 for cooperation with the rotatable cutter blade 23. The guide plate 73 is supported by suitable bracket arms 79 fixed to the side plates 33 to be spaced above the cutter block at a distance suitable to receive the film. The stationary blade is suitably fixed to the transverse support bar 49 preferably in a manner so as to be adjustable to position the cutting edge 77 parallel to and at a predetermined clearance with the rotatable cutter blades 23.

The film strips are difficult to sever with a single shearing action, particularly with a small portable machine of the type described herein. It has been found that the strips or ribbons sever quite easily by being progressively cut across their strips from right to left as seen in FIG- URE 2 as the edges of the spiral shaped cutting blades rotate close toward the straight cutting edge 77. Thus, the strip is cut progressively from right to left across its width and each blade 23 progressively severs the strips from right to left.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, six such spiral cutting blades 23 are formed and spaced equidistantly about the rotatable cutter 21 by spirally formed grooves 81 cut into the periphery of a metal cylindrical shaft. The ends of the shaft are formed with stub shaft ends which extend into suitable bearings (not shown) in the side walls for journaling the cutter 21. As the ribbons are severed they form small chips which fall into a collective chute 83 formed by a series of enclosed walls 85 which lead downwardly to form suitable collecting container (not shown).

To drive the feeding and cutting means of the apparatus, it is preferred to employ a series of drive belts connected to the common drive motor 71. The rotatable cutter 21 is driven at a higher speed than the speed of the feed rollers 13 and slitters 15. To this end, a sheave 87 fastened to the motor drive shaft drives a belt 89 extending to a sheave 90 fastened to the rotatable cutter 21.

.4 To provide a speed reduction, the driving motor employs a smaller sheave 91 which drives a second belt 92 to turn an idler sheave 93 fastened to another smaller diameter sheave 94 about which runs a belt 95 extending vertically to a sheave 96 fastened to the support shaft 62 for the slitters. A second and smaller sheave 97 is fixed to the shea-ve 96 and drives a belt 98 extending to the sheave 99 fixed to the upper feed roller 37. Thus, with the turning of the motor 71 the rotatable cutter 21, slitters 15 and feed roller 13 are all driven in timed relationship and at the appropriate speeds.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the relatively tough film is held against a supporting surface throughout substantially its entire length between a pair of feed rollers, slitters and cutters. Saw-toothed cutters disposed between driving sleeves provide a simple but effective manner of holding film while slitting the same.

While a preferred embodiment has been shown and described, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure but, rather, it is intended to cover all modifications and alternative constructons falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for cutting an X-ray or photographic film longitudinally and transversely into a plurality of chips, said apparatus comprising means to feed said film forwardly along a given path, slitter disks with toothed peripheral surfaces mounted for rotation and spaced transversely across the path of film travel to slit the sheet, motor means to rotate said tooth slitters to slit said film as it travels forwardly into a plurality of individual ribbons of film, and a rotatable cutter having a spiral cutting edge for severing progressively across the ribbons to cut individual chaps from each of said ribbons.

2. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the sheet of film rests on a support plate and each of the slitter disks extends into an aligned groove in the support plate, and in which means is provided to remove dust Iby suction from said grooves.

3. An apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which rings space said slitter disks from each other and in which said rings extend to engage said sheet at a position closely adjacent to but spaced transversely of the slitter, said rings being rotatable with said slitters and feeding said film.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 672,899 4/1901 Haasch 83-430 1,314,885 9/1919 Marko 83-408 X 1,939,925 12/1933 Schwartz 83-471 X 3,217,988 11/1965 Lightfoot et a1. 83-408 X 3,224,311 12/1965 Wagner 83-408 X 3,293,962 12/1966 Gianaris 83-470 3,324,753 6/1967 Lindau 83-925 X FOREIGN PATENTS 61,110 7/1939 Norway. 226,208 6/ 1943 Switzerland.

WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

